China

China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a sovereign state in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population of over 1.35 billion. The PRC is a one-party state governed by the Communist Party, with its seat of government in the capital city of Beijing. It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces; five autonomous regions; four direct-controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing); two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau); and claims sovereignty over Taiwan.

Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometers, China is the world's second-largest country by land area, and either the third or fourth-largest by total area, depending on the method of measurement. China's landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes and the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts in the arid north to subtropical forests in the wetter south. The Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third- and sixth-longest in the world, run from the Tibetan Plateau to the densely populated eastern seaboard. China's coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometres (9,000 mi) long, and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East and South China Seas.

The Morning Post

The Morning Post, as the paper was named on its masthead, was a conservative daily newspaper published in London from 1772 to 1937, when it was acquired by The Daily Telegraph.

History

The paper was founded by John Bell. Originally a Whig paper, it was purchased by Daniel Stuart in 1795, who made it into a moderate Tory organ. A number of well-known writers contributed, including Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Charles Lamb, James Mackintosh, Robert Southey, and William Wordsworth. In the seven years of Stuart's proprietorship, the paper's circulation rose from 350 to over 4,000.

From 1803 until his death in 1833, the owner and editor of the Post was Nicholas Byrne; his son William Pitt Byrne later held these roles.

Later the paper was acquired by a Lancashire papermaker named Crompton. In 1848 he hired Peter Borthwick, a Scot who had been a Conservative MP for Evesham 1835-1847, as editor. When Peter died in 1852, his son Algernon took over. During the 1850s, the Post was very closely associated with the Palmerston ministry.

South China Morning Post

The South China Morning Post (also known as SCMP or The Post), with its Sunday edition, the Sunday Morning Post, is a Hong Kong English-language newspaper and Hong Kong's newspaper of record. The journal was founded by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham in 1903. The first edition of the paper was published on 6 November 1903. Published by the SCMP Group, the journal's circulation has been relatively stable for years – the average daily circulation stands at 100,000.

It was owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation until it was acquired by real estate tycoon Robert Kuok in 1993. On 11 December 2015, it was announced that Alibaba Group would acquire the SCMP Group, including the South China Morning Post.

History

South China Morning Post Ltd was founded by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham in 1903. The first edition of the paper was published on 6 November 1903.

From its founding, during the Qing dynasty (Ching dynasty) until 1913, one year after the establishment of the Republic of China, it was known, in Chinese, as 《南清早報》 (Nánqīng Zǎobào, lit. South Qing Morning Post). In 1913, its Chinese name was changed to 《南華早報》 (lit. South China Morning Post), and has remained as such since then. The Chinese name of Sunday Morning Post is 《星期日南華早報》 (Xīngqīrì Nánhuá Zǎobào lit. Sunday South China Morning Post).

South China

South China (simplified Chinese: 华南; traditional Chinese: 華南; pinyin: huá nán) is a geographical and cultural region that covers the southernmost part of China. Its precise meaning varies with context.

Definitions

In the broadest sense, Southern China can denote the entire portion of the country south of the line demarcated by the Qin Mountains and Huai River. Between 1945 and 1949, the Republic of China defined Guizhou, Yunnan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Fujian and Taiwan as the "Seven Provinces of South China" (simplified Chinese: 华南七省; traditional Chinese: 華南七省; pinyin: huá nán qī shěng). The term can also be used to denote the Lingnan region; but today, the phrase is generally used to refer only to Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong and Macau (historically also known as Liangguang). Defined as such, South China is also contained within South Central China.

Administrative divisions

See also

Hong Kong

Hong Kong (香港; "Fragrant Harbour"), officially Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, is an autonomous territory on the southern coast of China at the Pearl River Estuary and the South China Sea. Hong Kong is known for its skyline and deep natural harbour. It has a land area of 1104 km² and shares its northern border with Guangdong Province of Mainland China. With around 7.2 million inhabitants of various nationalities, Hong Kong is one of the world's most densely populated metropolises.

After the First Opium War (1839–42), Hong Kong became a British colony with the perpetual cession of Hong Kong Island, followed by Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and a 99-year lease of the New Territories from 1898. Hong Kong remained under British control for about a century until the Second World War, when Japan occupied the colony from December 1941 to August 1945. After the Surrender of Japan, the British resumed control. In the 1980s, negotiations between the United Kingdom and the China resulted in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, which provided for the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong on 30 June 1997. The territory became a special administrative region of China with a high degree of autonomy on 1 July 1997 under the principle of one country, two systems. Disputes over the perceived misapplication of this principle have contributed to popular protests, including the 2014 Umbrella Revolution.